Onkere: An African Boy's Story of Struggle, Resilience, and Determination

By Dr. Blanchard Onanga Ndjila

Onkere: An African Boy’s Story of Struggle, Resilience, and Determination discusses how a young French-speaking African boy from a low-income family named Onkere came to fall in love with the English language and American culture as a whole and how regardless of the incredible setbacks thrown at him to prevent him from realizing his objective, he never gave up on his dream. The book further explores the trouble he went through from Africa to get a scholarship and go to France to pursue his studies. Once in France, as an international student, he overcame special requirements to be allowed to be part of an exchange program to go to America and improve his knowledge of the English language. Once in America, he had to overcome cultural misunderstandings to survive. In the midst of all these twists and turns, the main character ends up holding a doctorate in the field of English and American studies, getting married, having children, becoming an important personality not only for his country but also for the entire world, and working at the United Nations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781532076060

Dr. Blanchard Onanga Ndjila

Blanchard Onanga Ndjila holds a doctorate in English and American Studies from Bordeaux3 University. He was conferred a master’s degree in English from Poitiers University. He holds a master’s degree in French and Francophone world studies from the University of Iowa. From 2003 to 2004, he tutored freshmen from the English department of Poitiers University. From 2005 to 2009, he taught French at the University of Iowa as a teaching assistant. From 2012 to 2013, he taught English and principles of communication at William Penn University, Oskaloosa, Iowa. From 2017 to 2019, he worked as an adviser to the United Nations, in New York City. He currently is an instructor from the World Language Department at Rivermont Collegiate, Bettendorf, Iowa. He teaches English and American studies at the Omar Bongo University of Gabon, as an assistant professor. He is married to Kiersten Klink Onanga, M.A in Social Work. Together, they have four beautiful children, Aubree, Owen, Sylvie, and Ameliah Onanga.

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Copyright © 2019 Dr. Blanchard Onanga Ndjila.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-7605-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-7606-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019942721

iUniverse rev. date:     05/29/2019

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1    Encounter with the English Language: Fefe

Chapter 2    Mr. James Jones

Chapter 3    English Club: Leadership on the Rise

Chapter 4    Moving to the Capital: Baccalaureate

Chapter 5    Bonneville University: English Department

Chapter 6    Study Abroad: Europe

Chapter 7    Teaching Abroad: America

Chapter 8    The Doctorate

Chapter 9    Returning Home: Africa

Chapter 10    The Great Organization

Epilogue

To all the

people who helped me become the person I am: my parents, Raymond and Regina Onanga; my children, Aubree, Owen, Sylvie, and Ameliah Onanga; my brothers and sisters; my nieces and nephews; my cousins; my friends; my in-laws; and my wife, Kiersten Klink Onanga.

INTRODUCTION

The story you are about to read is based on a true story that the narrator felt needed to be publicly shared, given the fact that time, as is well known, has the capacity to weaken and affect humans’ ability to remember past events that occurred a decade or score years ago. Keeping this sober reality in mind, I felt compelled to jot down this story on paper. Personal pronouns I and he will be used interchangeably, though from different points of view to refer to Onkere, the main character of the story being narrated. The personal pronoun I will be specifically used when the narrator implicates himself and narrates from his point of view the events being described, whereas whenever he detaches Onkere from the narration, he will specifically use the personal pronoun he or Onkere. Additionally, personal pronoun we will be used to imply the narrator is in a group event. The main objective of using this alternating narrative technique is to keep readers awake so that they pay attention to the evolvement of the story. It is also used to allow them to further explore the story in such a way that they know who is doing what, as well as when and why. The story being narrated is the author’s. Therefore, the main protagonist is simply his surrogate. As for the story, it basically deals with how a young, enthusiastically determined, highly spirited, and intellectually motivated boy named Onkere, from Mpugu, a French-speaking country located in West Africa, came to passionately fall in love with both the English language and American culture. In other words, the story highlights how he intensely came to discover the Anglo-Saxon world.

More specifically, it discusses the people who most likely influenced his learning of English and, on the other hand, those who helped him along the way go to places he went to in order to improve his skills of the language. I will also be addressing some of the strategies he used to improve his understanding and way of fluently speaking the English language. In that regard, I will inevitably discuss some of the musical artists and songwriters who opened up the Anglo-Saxon culture to him. I, naturally, will talk about how, at an early young age, Onkere came across the English language in Toshville, Mpugu. I will then talk about his primary and high school experiences before underlining his years as a college student in the English Department of his country of origin in Africa.

I then will discuss his experience as a college student at Regina University in Europe and how, from there, he went on to successfully pursue his studies in the United States of America. His different experiences in America will ineluctably be commented upon. His years spent at Charles-Raymond University, both as a teaching assistant (TA) and as a student, will be discussed prior to talking about his experience as an instructor of English and principles of communication at Eliriga University in America. I will close the experience chapter discussing his teachings as assistant professor of English and American studies at the national university of his country of origin in Africa.

His experience at the Great Organization in Washington, DC, as an adviser will be highlighted, stressing how his understanding and mastering of the English language would be used to loyally serve and represent his country at one of the highest levels of international diplomacy. The narrator will not use real names of people who helped our main character along the way on his journey. In order to avoid any libel and privacy issues, the names of primary and secondary schools, together with colleges, universities, associations, and organizations, are out of the author’s fabrication.

It is important for the readers to know that the author of the present narration possesses a bachelor’s degree in English and two master’s degrees in both French and Francophone world studies and English. He holds a doctorate in English and American studies. Those degrees were respectively conferred to him by prestigious African, European, and American universities. The author is first and foremost a university professor who has taught French, English, and American and communication studies for many years in American, European, and African universities. He speaks more than two international languages, on top of the African ones that he can speak as well. He is also a seasoned diplomat currently working for an international organization. The author has been married for almost ten years and has four remarkable children.

In the final analysis, this story is all about education, languages, culture, identity, character building, and how a young determined boy from Akaga City, a city located in the northeastern province of Haute-Savana in Africa, turned out to realize his dream of skillfully mastering not only the English language but also American culture.

CHAPTER 1

Encounter with the English Language: Fefe

A dream doesn’t become reality through magic;

it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.

―Colin Powell

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

A traditional African wooden house with walls all boldly covered with layers of some sort of brownish mud—that is the house Onkere grew up in. Its roof, even though made with metal sheet, was also covered in part with a local material referred to as thatch. While the front and unique entrance door was made of a wooden material, its windows were essentially made from bamboo material. The small house had three sorts of bedrooms without any type of living room whatsoever. The family had no television, nor any of the furniture used in modern houses. Onkere would go watch television at the local retailer’s grocery store, where its owner would turn it off almost immediately after the national hymn was sung. The neighborhood the protagonist grew up in was very noisy, with pubs around almost every corner. By the time Onkere was born, there were no water installations in his family house. Family members would collect rainwater from the open sky through cleaned containers, and it would be boiled to make it drinkable. Whenever it rained, the protagonist would go out to play with his little friends. The electricity was not equally shared in Akaga City, either. Young adolescent boys and girls older than Onkere, around the early seventies, would hang out under the utility poles to enjoy the light. Some high school students would most likely spend time under the utility poles at night, going over their lessons, because their folks were too poor to afford electricity at home. People Onkere grew up around in Akaga City were very friendly.

Akaga City is a small African town of more than one thousand people located in the northeastern province of Haute-Savana, Mpugu, a French-speaking country located in West Africa. Nowadays, Akaga City is a sort of modernized village where houses are built for the most part with concrete material, cement, and wood. The village has about three main roads leading to the neighboring major villages and cities. Houses are basically built on both sides of the roads. This characteristic, in itself, strengthens bonds among the community, whereby everyone knows everyone. Akaga City is famous for its splendid exotic palm, coconut, papaya, and mango trees that are easily seen along the roads. Now and then, unattended dogs, goats, or she-goats could be perceived running all over the place, especially upon hearing the honk of an old bus or car. Grocery stores are built, as well, on each side of the main dusty roads. This allows travelers going through the village to observe its traditional markets where local women exhibit their merchandise and agricultural products covered with dust. By the time Onkere was born, Akaga City’s roads were still unpaved. Thus, the houses built near them would be full of dusty brownish roofs that would turn gray after the passage of the rain. At nighttime, mothers would drag their nude kids to the public fountain to give them baths. Onkere himself went through that process while growing up. By the time he was about three years old, cars and buses were still unusual sights in the village. Whenever kids would see one, it would be an amazing spectacle to watch, as they would run after the slow-moving bus or car, which, for the most part, would be dropping passengers off from one village to the next one.

While growing up, Onkere enjoyed eating a local vegetable called nkumu. He also liked to eat cassava, as well as coconut, bananas, and mangoes, eating habits he had received from his father. Monray was Onkere’s father’s real name. Yet he was referred to as Mister. He was the eldest of his family. He had three sisters and two brothers. Born around the thirties, Monray dreamed of pursuing studies at a university level. However, given that he was the eldest of his family, he had, at a very young age, given up his dream in order to take care of his family, his beautiful wife, and his amazing children. Right after completing primary school, he got married to Onkere’s mother, Mrs. Monray, whose birth name was Tassina. She was born around the forties. She was part of a typical, traditional African family composed of three daughters, herself included, and three sons.

We were originally twelve children. Some have gone to heaven and are sitting by the Lord’s right hand now. As for me, Onkere, I am the seventh child out of that number. I happen to be the middle child. In some world cultures, being the middle child has implications that will be discussed later on. I was born in Akaga City. My father’s quest for employment opportunities led him to move the family to Toshville, the capital city of the Haute-Savana province.

It would be in Toshville that I attended primary and secondary schools. When I was still in primary school, in the late 1980s, when I probably was a third grader, one of my twin sisters, Mariella, was dating a nicely brilliant young man by the name of Fefe. He was good natured and physically attractive. He enjoyed getting well dressed. Tall and thin, he walked in a graceful way that would synchronize all his body while in motion. Full of energy and gently mannered, Fefe was intensely in love with my sister. The two of them were almost inseparable. They enjoyed publicly showing off their affection for each other.

This was an unusual occurrence in Toshville during those years. Mariella was as tall as her boyfriend. She was as equally smart. She was a strong-willed person who would not accept no for an answer. Her very long, thin molten-red hair would nicely fall over her shoulder, to the amazement of her boyfriend. She enjoyed eating wild fruits and was quick to throw up upon smelling something rotten. She was caring and very sensitive. Like her twin sister, Olivia, Mariella was well mannered. She was a feminist of some sort.

During this period of time, Michael Jackson, the iconic American pop artist, had already successfully released his 1983 Thriller album that would make him win a Grammy Award a year later. In Toshville, there was a frenzied enthusiasm about his music. Every single little boy wanted to sing, dance, walk, and moonwalk just like him.

Madonna was also one of the most liked American pop stars. In fact, my other twin sister, Olivia, used to dress just the way Madonna would. Olivia excessively loved also to dance to Madonna’s Who’s That Girl song. Olivia was a remarkable person with a very unique taste in music and American pop culture. She was bright and affectionate yet sneaky. She was as tall as her twin sister, Mariella, with whom she shared an unusual sensitiveness when it came to matters love related. She did not appreciate drunk persons being around her. Olivia, who was of a darker skin color than her twin sister, had what is referred to as long, thin ebony-black hair, which would tenderly sit on her shoulder. Both Olivia and her twin sister had ladylike personalities that could scare off young men lacking certain confidence or boldness.

Fefe was already a junior in Toshville public high school. As such, he had already been learning English—a foreign language—for about three or four years. And he was excellent at it. Not only could he dance and walk like Michael Jackson, but he, above all, could sing Michael Jackson’s songs because he knew English and had certainly—as I can now think about it—studied and learned the lyrics.

Singing Michael Jackson’s songs and practicing his moves were part of how some young men came to impress young women of that generation. As for Onkere, he not only loved his sister Mariella, as well as Olivia, but appreciated more the fact that Fefe could fluently speak English, even though, in the early 1980s, Onkere, being too young and full of naivete, did not know that the language his brother-in-law was speaking was called English.

In fact, one day, Fefe went to their house to visit his girlfriend, Mariella. Fortunately for him, their father was out to work, as he always was. Mister was very protective of his twins. He did not want them to be dating anyone who could potentially derail them from focusing on school. Mister, to describe him, was a medium-sized, good-looking, stocky man who could scare off men of his generation.

A story is even told according to which Mister, who actually never underwent any type of football training, was a cook whose career started with him working for an embassy in Bonneville, Mpugu’s capital city. As time passed by, Daddy Monray, as he was also called by some of his colleagues, switched from that embassy to working for some private school. Midway through his career, he finally went to work for Mpugu’s football team. Given that he was older than the majority of the young energetic men, some of them were mean to Daddy Monray. To punish those young men, Daddy Monray, being the chef in charge of supervising restaurants and any related food service devoted to feeding athletes to keep them healthy and ready for any type of activities, would purposely reduce the number of supplies as well as any daily food ration allocated to those specific football players.

The young men impacted by Daddy Monray’s action would get frustrated with him. Consequently, they would openly look for any chance to challenge him to fights.

Daddy Monray, knowing that he still had a violent knockout punch, would purposely turn them down. But given that they would insist, one day, out of the blue, during one of the many arguments he would occasionally have with those young men, Daddy Monray, like a lion about to catch its prey, jumped on one of them. Nobody knows what happened next. From that day forward though, Daddy Monray, regardless of what went down on that day, was forever respected among those young athletes who thought that because they had been trained as military men, they could easily scare him off. Following this event, a song came out celebrating Daddy Monray’s strength.

Daddy Monray, despite this misunderstanding and many more, would gently interact with people in his dealings. His temperament was successfully passed down to all his children, especially Onkere, whose mother was a more reserved and privately quiet lady who would not hurt a bird. She certainly was somewhere in the kitchen or had gone grocery shopping when Fefe came in. Onkere’s other sister Olivia was at home, while his brother Randy was out, as usual. At this stage, the Monray family was made